L02 - Task 3 [Writeup]

Introduction

Hello viewer/reader, I’m Matthew and today I will be showing you about how the film ‘Dawn of The Planet Apes’ is pushed towards the male audience, but also has some female reasoning in there as well. Ien Ang and John Hartley discussed (1987 & 1991) about how producers create invisible fiction or imaginary entities before creating a media product. This is important for media producers as it gives them an imaginary statistic board with estimated sales, viewers, ratings etc that their media products would generate. Reasons for doing this means a media producer can create correct advertisements and maximise net revenue for their media product. The media age for the target audience of the film is around 16-18 at around 50% of their viewers. For this I generated an imaginary entity (a randomly created person who fits the media products correct target audience.) ‘Duncan, a 16-year-old male loves to spend time with his friends whilst also playing on his games consoles. He also takes his education seriously but at the same time doesn't mind spending time with his family and friends. Duncan also spends most of his time keeping up with the latest technology and uses his small income from his job to help fund - along with the money his parents give to him - all the latest tech. He also doesn't mind splashing the cash on high end teenager clothing such as vans or converse, but also likes to keep a formal side with smart casual clothing from top-man. 

He enjoys listening to the latest pop music and spends money to have subscriptions with all the chart music playing applications, like Spotify and Apple Music. Duncan also loves playing sports like football, in which he plays on a weekend and with his friends. At this time Duncan loves to eat with his mates at McDonalds or Nando's.

Finally, he has a high social life. He is a socially high up within his friend group and a natural leader.’

Gender

I think that based on the film ‘Dawn of The Planet Apes’ the target audience between males and females would be around 90%. I say this due to the heavily male based characterisation of the film. This could be an example of John Berger (1972) as in this film men act the majority of the roles, whilst women don’t really appear except for sections in which they are stereotyped for (example includes the female nurse).

At 1:04:49 in the film planet of the apes, the men are drinking alcohol whist sitting with guns. This appeals to the male target audience as it is very stereo-typical of men to have alcohol and enjoy messing around with weaponry, without thinking of the damage that could be done to others or themselves. By mixing these two props together you get a characterization that is heavily stereotypical for males; hence challenging the ideal self-theory by Carl Rogers (1980) as the men then proceed to be shot by an Ape, as they are distorted by the alcohol putting a real life principle into a film situation. This might have a negative influence to the audience as it suggests drinking alcohol is good.

At 24:45, the male character can be seen as a leader for others. This portrays a male film as men are stereotyped as natural leaders. This once again connotes bravery and leadership, which can be seen as part of the John Berger theory (1972) in which the males are leaders and are acting to save the human settlement, women however are not seen which hence suggests that they are not appearing, backing up the theory even further. This may influence a passive audience member to become more dominant which could either be positive or negative depending on the status of the viewer.

At 1:30:46 the main protagonist can be seen on a self-generated pursuit to gather medical supplies to save Caesar, the Ape leader. In this mission the main protagonist Malcolm connotes stereotypical male traits; being courage, strength and independence. This can be linked to the Binary oppositions theory by Claude Levi Strauss of gender, as women are perceived to always require help (mostly by male characters) when conducting a mission; however male characters can carry out pursuits without the use of another individual, showing independence. This may have a negative influence by suggesting passive audience members to take more risks but may also have a positive influence by suggesting being strong and to have independence.

At 1:18:14 proof is shown towards the film being aimed at a female audience as well. As the human settlement is preparing for war the camera pans left to right showing a woman holding a gun before showing a man preparing for war. This uses the Carl Rogers (1980) theory for women to see an ideal self, as the shot connotes women independence and equality compared to males, it also shows women to be what they believe, even if it is counter stereo-typical. This also challenges the Claude Levi Strauss (1958) theory of binary oppositions for women, as the woman comes before the man in the shot type therefore connoting more bravery and strength than the male next to her. To a female audience, this may influence them to be more independent but also that to a male passive audience, women are not just sex objects which counters the Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey).

At 1:29:33 Malcolm (main protagonist) says to the Ellie that he will go and look for supplies as it is too dangerous for a woman to go back to the location. This backs up the Binary oppositions of gender suggested by Claude Levi Strauss (1958) in which the males appear more powerful and more willing to do a dangerous task; this could be seen as a stereotypical male trait. This has a negative influence on women as it suggests that the stereotypes are true and that women are too ‘weak’ to do tasks on their own. For men however this may be influential to complete more challenging tasks.

Age

At 1:14:57 in the film, Dreyfus is denoted walking to his iPad after the power had just been restored. The use of an iPad connotes knowledge of technology which appeals to the target audience of 16-18 as they might own, or be thinking about owning an iPad or tablet and also due to the fact that young people like having the best technology. In terms of the audience, the targeted audience could be classed as a digital native audience – this is due to the audience growing up within an age of technology.

At 1:18:41 in the film, the diegesis denotes the start of the war between humans and apes. This connotes action and hostility, which is targeted at 16-18 year olds as they enjoy action in their everyday lives. The audience enjoy this type of film as they have an active life which means the film can link to the audience.

At 59:40 in the film, the apes Caesar and Koba are denoted to have a fight which connotes power and aggression. This links to the target audience as 15-18 year olds are becoming more mature and are at the top of the school hierarchy in terms of school years. The audience can also relate to this as 16-18 year olds are known to get into ‘play-fights’ with their friends which furthermore makes the film link to the audience.

At 1:04:23 a man is denoted holding a M4A1 assault rifle which connotes war and action. This links to the audience of 16-18 year olds they might enjoy doing extreme sports which could include paintballing or airsofting. The film also links to the age set due to them having an active life.

At 31:08 in the film, the diegesis denotes the main protagonist (Malcolm) and his wife/girlfriend are hugging. This connotes love and care. For a 16-18 year old they may be thinking about getting into a true long term relationship and henceforth the film is aimed at these people.

Lifestyle

The NRS is an organisation specialising in demographic surveying and information. The specific lifestyle I have chosen for my film is E-Urban Ventures. I chose this as the target audience I have defined for my film is of the teenage population (16 to 18 year olds). At this age the profile decided by the NRS directly correlates to that of the target audience for the film. The film, being set in the present day/future uses technology which directly correspond to what the audience may spend their money on (further in spending power). The secondary lifestyle could also be D-Nest builders. This is where families may just begin to be developed and the film also shows Malcolm and Ellie in a (what could be classed as post-apocalyptic world) starting to build their family. This gives inspiration to new families as it connotes that through difficult times, a family can still be developed/work, which corresponds to the most likely low income they are receiving in their lifestyle. Dennis McQuail (1972) theorised that media products consumed by the audience has an impact on their lifestyle through four reasons (Surveillance, Escapism, Personal Identity and building personal relationships). This reflects the ‘urban-ventures’ and ‘nest builders’ by using the idea of escaping the real world of jobs and work, and providing a small amount of time to relax. The film also uses the idea of the protagonist’s best friend (Koba) turned antagonist to provide a talking point about the film. This helps the audience to build a personal relationship with one another hence changes a consumer’s personal identity to maybe make them more social to others or talkative. The films also contains star character cast such as Jason Clarke who plays Malcolm in the film. This associates with the Richard Dyer theory of star persona.

Spending power

I have stated that my target social grade for the film would be D or E but could also potentially be aimed at the C1, C2 section of population as well. I selected these as I previously selected ‘urban-ventures’ or ‘nest builders’ for the audience’s lifestyle. This means that as the audience is aged roughly 16-18, they may only just be getting jobs or furthering education, therefore disposable income would be little to none existent in comparison to that of someone with a grade A or B social grade. This doesn’t however mean that the teenagers have no income at all. The spending power of a teenage audience it little but due to social trending, most consumers will keep with technology of the time; the film demonstrates knowledge of this by inputting up-to-date technology such as the Apple iPad within the film, which further provides more reasoning to be socially trending technology. Spending power of the audience can also be somewhat decisive due to the extent of the film’s success. Many teenagers who enjoyed the film and are within a friend group that enjoyed the film will purchase merchandise to keep their social position. This suggests that a consumer will have money to spend on merchandise even though they may have no full-time job. Another example of the film’s audience associated spending power includes the scene in which Malcolm and his team finally gets the electricity working and are seen outside of an abandoned petrol station. Within this scene the music turns on as part of the diegesis which suggests that the target audience may spend a lot of money on the latest music, e.g. on subscription applications like Spotify or Apple Music. This also links to other applications that a teenager might use to watch the film such as Netflix or Amazon prime.

Another feature of the film which connotes the lower spending power of the target audience is the broken down landscape of the film. The technology although somewhat to today’s standards is limited within the amount of people in the film. This suggests that although many teenagers want to purchase all of this technology it may be difficult for them to afford one. The spending power of a C1, C2 is somewhat higher than the D,E ratings, however they may only be able to upgrade technology (such as a photo, or tablet) every few years due to the expensive price of up keeping the latest technology; contrasting against teenagers at the D,E rating who spend money as soon as they get it, to maintain the social profile of having a lot of money.